


When You're Lost, I'll Find The Way(I'll Be Your Light)

by Tea__Bee



Series: Holiday AUs [3]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Slight Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Valentine's Day, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:15:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22702318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tea__Bee/pseuds/Tea__Bee
Summary: Eddie has big plans to surprise Richie for their first Valentine's Day
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: Holiday AUs [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1572694
Comments: 10
Kudos: 101





	When You're Lost, I'll Find The Way(I'll Be Your Light)

Eddie had done a  _ lot _ of research to prepare for his and Richie's first Valentine's Day together. He'd told Richie he wanted to plan their date, that he wanted to surprise him. And he really did. He was nervous, to tell the truth. He'd never wanted to do something like this for someone, but… 

He loved Richie.

It hadn't even been two months, and he knew it was crazy, he knew it was  _ way _ too fast, but he loved him. He had fallen so hard, so fast, for this wonderful, goofy, obnoxious, sexy, caring man he'd met by complete chance. He couldn't believe it, and ever since he'd realized it, one morning a week ago when he woke up to Richie singing in his kitchen, he'd wanted to tell him. To shout it from the rooftops. But he wanted to do it right, so he made big plans in the way only Eddie Kaspbrak could make big plans. He had picked a restaurant that had a table with a view, packed a whole picnic full of desserts to eat in the park while they watched an old movie musical, Funny Face, that was being projected in the park. He figured they'd get about a third of the way through the movie, then Richie would get started with his old Hollywood Fred Astaire impressions, probably beg Eddie to be his Audrey Hepburn, and they'd end up either smearing dessert in each other's faces while they laughed and got shushed by the 'serious movie-goers', or making out and ignoring the movie. More likely, both. Then came the real surprise, the thing Richie would never expect, especially after all the cliche stuff Eddie was pulling out at the beginning of the date. Eddie had found a 24-hour trampoline park, and he just knew Richie would love it. He was a big kid at heart, and Eddie could picture the sparkle in his eyes when they walked into the colorful, bouncy building. He could hear his laugh when he found out they could fight with large, colorful batons that looked like technicolor q-tips. He loved when Richie smiled so big it looked like it might split his face, and he  _ loved _ being the one who put that look there. And he was so sure this date would do that. 

What he couldn't quite picture was what Richie might look like when he finally told him at the end of the night that he loved him.

He thought, maybe, Richie might feel the same way. Sometimes, he thought the look in Richie's eye when he looked at him matched the one he knew radiated from his own eyes. But it had only been a little under two months, this was their first Valentine's Day, it could be well too soon and this whole thing could blow up in Eddie's face. He knew that. But he had to tell him, he couldn't keep it in anymore. He had everything planned.

Except what to wear.

He was supposed to leave to pick Richie up in twenty minutes, and he was standing at the edge of his bed in his boxers, his hair done, staring at one of his suits. It was nicer than the ones he wore to work, he'd bought it for some function or another a few years back, firmly against renting. He liked the color, a deep cobalt that looked very good on him, he could admit it. The cut was slimmer than he usually went for, but he knew it accentuated his athletic figure, hugged his body in all the right ways, and he knew Richie would like it, would probably want to peel it off him the second he laid his eyes on it. But it wasn't  _ right.  _ For one thing, he couldn't wear the suit to the trampoline park. But on another level, it just didn't  _ feel _ like the right outfit. He wandered over to his closet to stare at his clothes for the fifth time that day. 

…

Eventually, he picked out his nicest pair of jeans and paired it with a cream button-down shirt peppered with navy flowers and his chocolate leather jacket over top. He had just sat down to pull on his shoes with five minutes to spare before he had to pick Richie up when there was a knock on his apartment door. 

"Be right there!" He called out, wondering who could possibly be showing up at his house at 7:25 on Valentine's Day. He finished tying his shoelace and opened up the door. "Richie? I thought I was picking you up, what-?

"Can I come in?" Richie shuffled his feet, looking down.

"Of course, sweetheart, come in, what's going on?" Eddie shut the door as Richie walked in. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm… fine. I just, uh." He looked up at Eddie, finally taking in his outfit. "You look really good. I'm sorry, I'm being really weird right before our big date. I'm sorry. We should get going, right?"

"Rich, something is obviously wrong, just tell me." Eddie took his hand and pulled him over to the couch, sitting them both down. 

"I was getting ready, and my landlord called. He's… retiring, so he's selling the building. I have to be out of my apartment by the end of the month, the new owners are tearing the building down and rebuilding." 

"Oh, Richie. I'm sorry. That's awful news." Eddie wrapped an arm around Richie's waist and lay his head on his shoulder.

"I-" Richie's face scrunched up and he pursed his lips. "It's really stupid, I just, I really like my apartment. And with the tour starting next month, I have too much going on to find a new apartment I like, somewhere that I can feel at home, you know? It's just… really bad timing, I guess."

Eddie kissed Richie's cheek, listening to him vent. He knew Richie loved that apartment, they'd spent plenty of time there over the last couple of months, cooking in the kitchen together, having game night with their friends. He'd been there for years, now. He knew his neighbors, was a regular at the diner down a few blocks away. He'd actually become a regular at the coffee shop near Eddie's apartment, too, since he'd been spending a lot of time here since they'd started dating. His neighbors, people had Eddie barely spoken to before, stopped Eddie in the hall to ask how Richie was doing if they hadn't seen him in a few days. They'd slotted into each other's lives, and Eddie hated seeing Richie this upset about his home.

"I mean, I have all these meetings to finalize things for the tour, I have to buy real luggage since I'll be gone for three months. Fuck. Three fucking months, I'm gonna get into a new place, barely get used to it, and then leave for  _ three months.  _ I hate this." He scrubbed his hands over his face. "And I'm totally bringing down our date, tonight was supposed to be romantic and I'm… I'm sorry." 

"You're not ruining anything. I'd still be on my way to your place to get you if you hadn't come here, and frankly, if we don't go to dinner, or the rest of the date, I don't care. You're upset. It's okay to be upset. You're losing your home." He ran his hand through Richie's hair to comfort him. 

"It's just the worst timing! He said he'd have told me earlier, but I guess every time he's knocked on the door to talk to me I've been here. Not that knowing earlier would've made it that much better, but…" Richie sighed, his shoulders shaking with anxiety.

"I'm sorry, Richie." He didn't know what else to say. He leaned back, relaxing against the couch and maneuvering Richie down so he could lay his head in his lap, a surefire way he'd learned to get Richie to calm down enough to stop shaking when his anxiety got too high, when combined with his fingers combing smoothly through his curls. He didn't know what else he could do, he wanted so badly to help, to find a solution for Richie and be able to give it to him and push all his worries out of his mind. To give him somewhere new he could call home without any fuss, to… Oh. His fingers stilled in Richie's hair, and he heard Richie make a questioning sound, his eyes still closed and his head still pillowed on Eddie's thighs. "Um, sorry, you can keep… keep venting, I'm fine." He resumed carding his fingers through the curls, trying to keep them from shaking and giving him away.

"It's just too stressful," Richie mumbled. "I hate moving, trying to get used to a new place, feeling like I don't belong, like it's not  _ mine,  _ like I'm not settled, for  _ weeks."  _ Richie's voice broke, and Eddie could feel his own heart clench a little more at seeing him so upset. "And it's fucking worse, because I'll have that feeling before I leave, and then  _ again _ when I come back from tour, and-"

"Move in here." Eddie blurted out. His hands stilled in Richie's hair again.

"Wh- _ what?" _ Richie shifted in his lap, turning to look up at him with wide eyes. 

"I, uh… yeah. Fuck it. You could move in here." Eddie's mouth set in a determined line. "If you wanted to."

"If  _ I?  _ Eds, you…" Richie sat up, facing him.

"Look, I had everything planned for tonight, this big, over the top surprise, so I could look at you at the end and tell you…" He took a deep breath and held Richie's gaze. "I love you, Richie. You don't, uh, you don't have to say it back, you know? I know it's way to soon, I just. I love you. I do. And if you aren't about to run, if I haven't totally scared you off just now, I mean, you wouldn't have to feel out of place here, you already know where everything is, you have an extra toothbrush here, and a coffee mug with a stupid joke on it in the kitchen cabinet, and a drawer in my dresser, you could… this could be home, if you wanted."

Richie stared at him with his mouth dropped open, completely silent, a slightly wild look of disbelief on his face. He swallowed, and took a breath, exhaling on a chuckle. "Yes."

"Y-yes?" Eddie laughed incredulously.

"Yeah. I want to live with you. I want to move in here." He grinned, that happy look Eddie loved putting on his face. "I love you, too, Eddie. Fuck, I love you." He surged forward, pinning Eddie to the back of the couch with a smiling kiss. "I love you."

"I love you, Richie." He worked his hands in between them, pulling at Richie's shirt until he'd wrestled it over his head and tossed it aside, completely forgetting his original plans for their first Valentine's Day.

**Author's Note:**

> I actually finished this one with time to spare! Happy Valentine's everyone, or just happy day in general. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this installment, please leave a comment and tell me what you thought! Not sure if I'll do a St Patrick's Day yet, but we'll see. 
> 
> Bee


End file.
